


Take the Bait

by strawnilla



Series: caught [1]
Category: End Roll (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-26
Updated: 2017-05-26
Packaged: 2018-11-05 02:48:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11004396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strawnilla/pseuds/strawnilla
Summary: How Kantera realizes that maybe not all humans are that bad. Especially blue-eyed humans.





	Take the Bait

**Author's Note:**

> hello!! this is just a really simple drabble i wrote for the mermaid au fic i posted Way earlier. i kinda want to expand this au even more, but alas, we'll see!

Kantera can’t help but to wonder if he’s gotten himself lost.

Judging from the murkiness of the water, and the human wastes he occasionally (always) sees as he glides through the currents, it isn’t a far off possibility.

He supposes it is his own fault, for straying from his usual swimming path. But then, is it really his fault if he had caught sight of a beautiful Helios fish, rare and bright in the ocean? What sane merfolk would pass up an opportunity to witness the Helios fish as it shines its gorgeous pale yellow light when the sun sets?

And yet, the sun still has not set, and the fish is nowhere in his sights.

The merman sighs, resting on what he assumes to be a relatively clean boulder. He frowns at all the trash surrounding him, and at the few fish that swim by, feeling a tinge of sympathy for their living conditions.

Humans are quite awful, aren’t they? It’s no wonder his ancestors used to lure them to their deaths with songs.

Kantera catches a twinkle of light at the corner of his eye, and he swims towards it in an instant. A small smile reaches his face as he sees the Helios fish, swimming around something.

It doesn’t take him long to realize that that ‘something’ is a bait. A fishing bait. And the Helios fish is right about to take it!

Kantera tries to save it, but he’s too late. The line is already getting reeled back in pretty quickly, and all he can do can do now is follow and hope for the best.

He swims as close as he possibly can near the edge of the water, watching with a close eye as a man wearing green pulls on a fishing rod.

The Helios fish breaks through the surface of the water, and Kantera considers it a lost cause. The human will surely realize the sea creature is a rare specimen (and sacred to merfolk) and would keep it for himself.

If the human is dumb enough, he might even try to cook it.

Sorrow fills Kantera’s heart at the thought, and how he can’t possibly save it, not without comprising this place with rumours of a mermaid lurking about and having more humans come to desecrate the place even more.

He swims ever closer, however, in hopes that maybe there _is_ something he can do after all. The dark waters help hide him, and so do the shade from the tree surrounding.

Kantera watches as the human man unhooks the Helios fish, and seems to be staring perplexed at it. From this close, he can see the human’s blue eyes and pursed lips—he looks like he’s considering what to do with it.

At last, the man with the bright blue eyes slowly lowers the fish back into the water, a soft smile on his face as he watches it disappear from sight.

Kantera’s eyes are wide when he realizes that the human is letting the rare fish go. The Helios fish swims right past him in a hurry, its tail beginning to glow yellow—a sign that the sun is just beginning to set.

The merman continues to watch the curious fisherman as he packs his things, cleaning his little spot up so there’s not a trash to be seen. When the fisherman walks away and is gone behind some trees, Kantera finds himself wondering when the human will return.

It takes a while, long after the sun has set and the waves are high, before the merman finally shakes out of his thoughts and dives back into the water to swim home.

Now, in the comforts of his cave, Kantera wonders… did this man with the green hood and blue eyes catch his attention too—but refused to let him go?


End file.
